Report: England WU17s 1-1 Norway

England women’s under-17s were held to a 1-1 draw by Norway in their final match of the UEFA Women’s Under-17 Championship in Northern Ireland, exiting the tournament.

Chelsea N’Drin’s goal was not enough to send the Young Lionesses into the semi-finals of the competition as their opponents progressed by virtue of goals scored.

England slowly found their way into the game and created a couple of half-chances within the first 20 minutes - the best of which fell to Abbie Jones, who couldn’t quite stretch to reach a low ball into the box.

However, Norway opened the scoring in the 25th minute after the Young Lionesses failed to clear their lines. Sofia Norebo fired a powerful half-volley past Evie Mitchell to leave England needing at least two goals to progress to the semi-finals.

However, few chances followed up until the half-time interval, as both sides struggled to keep hold of the ball.

England started the second half on the front foot as they began to pile pressure onto Norway. Substitutes N’Drin and Kyri Teer-Hutchins caused problems with the former having the Young Lionesses' first shot on target on the hour mark.

And Kerri Welsh’s side made their pressure count as they equalised soon after.

Mia Dixon delivered a looping corner which found N’Drin at the back post. The Liverpool forward peeled away from her marker to nod past Erla Braathen.

England continued to push as they sought to go ahead. Phoebe De Bohan attempted to score with an audacious effort, but Braathen was able to turn the ball behind for a corner.

As the Young Lionesses began to commit more bodies forward, Norway almost sealed the game with a late winner themselves as Hanne Nesse fired just wide of Mitchell’s far post.

Despite a much-improved second-half performance, England couldn’t find the goal to send them through to the semi-finals as their journey came to an end.

England: 1 Evie Mitchell (Manchester United), 2 Zoe Ciccardini (Chelsea), 3 Katie Scott © (Aston Villa), 4 Romia Gagliano (FC Basel), 5 Lucy Robinson (Manchester United), 6 Amarachukwu Nwankwo (Manchester City), 8 Bryony Brodie (Arsenal),11 Mia Dixon (Arsenal), 17 Sophia Burton (Manchester City), 18 Phoebe De Bohan (Arsenal), 20 Abbie Jones (Sheffield United)

Substitutes: 19 Chelsea N’Drin (Liverpool) for Jones 46’, 10 Kyri Teer-Hutchins (Arsenal) for Burton 46’, 9 Freya Hirons (Manchester City) for Gagliano 74’, 12 Maisie Brickell (Chelsea) for Ciccardini 81’

Substitutes not used: 13 Victoria Rudz (Chelsea), 7 Cairo Antoine (Arsenal), 14 Gabriella Storey (Chelsea), 15 Isabella Cowley (Arsenal), 16 Lottie Day (Sheffield United)

Goals: N’Drin 63’

Head coach: Kerri Welsh